O’Hare expansion set to take off under hometown architect Jeanne Gang

Studio ORD has been selected to design the new O’Hare Global Terminal, which at 2.2 million square feet, will more than double the space of Terminal 2 at the airport and will feature additional gates, more space for concessions, lounges, new baggage systems and improved security screening.

(Chicago Tribune)

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Chicago’s O’Hare is the busiest airport in the nation again, if not the most loved. Good news: It’s getting a significant terminal upgrade. A wavy design by one of Chicago’s most prominent architects is a welcome early vision of what a better O’Hare is expected to look like a decade from now.

Jeanne Gang, whose curvaceous Aqua Tower turns heads near Millennium Park, won the commission to design a $2.2 billion Global Terminal to open in 2028. It’s a major step in what will be, in total, an $8.7 billion expansion that also will revamp concourses and add dozens of gates.

Gang and her team, Studio ORD Joint Venture Partners, presented a Y-shaped terminal that echoes the Chicago River. Inside it features wood, natural greenery and light, airy spaces. Ideally, a fresh, nature-inspired view uplifts the weary traveler and leaves an inspiring impression. The terminal also must be functional, well-run and accommodating to all users.

A first-rate international airport is a non-negotiable for Chicago to thrive as a global center for business. O’Hare is the essential engine of our region, pumping tens of billions of dollars into the economy. In 2018, O’Hare retook its No. 1 status with the most flights of any airport in the nation; those 903,000 journeys carried 83 million passengers. It topped its own record for the amount of air cargo it handled last year too.

Aging, cramped infrastructure threatens O’Hare’s ability to accommodate new airplane fleets, keep passengers humming happily along and buff its brand with global business interests. No ground can be lost on Chicago’s excellence as an air travel hub.

The architect selection process and the design itself have taken some hits, not surprising for a project of this size, impact and public interest level. Money for the expansion comes from the airlines who will profit from it, not from taxpayers, so an open public process is not required. Outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel and an unnamed selection committee (unidentified so they wouldn’t be lobbied) cast aside a public vote that rated the Gang design only third of five proposals. Understandably, that brought grumbles. Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin favored a different proposal and has pointed to Gang’s reliance on escalators as potentially perilous and unwelcoming to wheelchair users.

Gang’s body of work, however, has earned our respect and fueled our optimism about the prospects for her O’Hare design. Part of her task will be to incorporate feedback from critics, the community and her own group of architects and engineers before ground is broken in 2023. The Department of Aviation notes that the plan is conceptual at this stage and, as built, will meet accessibility requirements. At least one more team will be involved in airport design as well: The second-place finisher will potentially complete other pieces of the project.

Gang, a professor of practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and recipient of a MacArthur “genius grant,” has won a long list of awards for buildings in Chicago and internationally. A commission like an airport etches an architect into history and gives Gang a monumental canvas for the visually stirring, environmentally conscious aesthetic that Chicagoans have gotten a glimpse of from the Writers Theatre in Glencoe to Solstice on the Park in Hyde Park.

We like the idea that someone with deep local roots is creating the city’s next-level link to the world. We’re counting on Gang to lift the O’Hare experience to new heights.